James Bond video game: A letter to anyone considering developing one

From all the fans of the world’s most famous fictional secret agent, we have a simple request we’d like to make of anyone thinking about building a new video game based on James Bond.

Please watch the James Bond movies.

Seriously.

Start with the excellent Dr. No — Sean Connery’s original portrayal of 007 is just as engaging now as it was 50 years ago — and then work your way all the way up to the equally compelling Skyfall, which, handily, was just released on Blu-ray and DVD this week.

Granted, it becomes a bit of a struggle during the cornball-ish Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton years, but it’s worth the effort. Because in viewing these films you’ll come to realize how everyone who’s made a major game based on James Bond in the last decade and a half has gotten it all wrong.

Everyone.

I should add that I have no idea who you are.

I suspect you’re not someone at Eurocom, the U.K. studio that made 2012’s disastrously un-fun 007: Legends, since it was shuttered not long after that game’s critical and commercial faceplant.

And I doubt you’re anyone at Activision-Blizzard, since recent rumours suggest the American game maker may be giving up its exclusive rights to publish games based on Ian Fleming’s famous spy — likely because it has failed to make any good ones since it started trying in 2008.

But do not despair, whoever you are. A good James Bond game is possible. And if you watch the films, you’ll start to understand what audiences find so interesting about the man who enjoys his martinis shaken not stirred, sleeps with a gun under his pillow and always lives to die another day.

We love the way he looks in a dinner jacket. We’re fascinated by his debonair, Oxford-educated exterior as well as the vicious thug lurking beneath. We envy his boyish charm around women just as much as his business-like cool when things start to get rough. And we admire the way in which, even beaten and bloodied, he still commands respect and fear in his enemies.

Simply put, we’re drawn to James Bond because of the man he is.

But how has nearly every major Bond-branded game released in recent memory treated this fascinating fictional fellow?

As an arm with a gun.

Most game makers have been singularly focused on Bond’s marksmanship. This strikes me as bizarre. His skill with at Walther PPK is the most generic of all his action hero abilities. Anyone with a finger can pull a trigger.

Even Rare’s 1997 classic GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo64 — the one true James Bond video game sensation — showed us virtually nothing of its protagonist. It wasn’t much more than a long string of scenes in which a floating, gun-toting hand perforated hundreds of mostly anonymous enemies. Take away the theme music and the semi-recognizable locations and most people probably wouldn’t even know it starred James Bond.

And yet, sadly, it’s become a template of sorts for just about every high-profile Bond game released in its wake. Some have altered the formula slightly to switch the shooting to a third-person perspective, but it inevitably winds up as the same basic experience.

Which brings me to the purpose of this letter: Please do not make your game revolve around Bond’s talent with firearms. That lemon has been squeezed.

Instead, focus your game on the man himself.

You need to depict Bond in all his suave, brutish, sexy, intelligent glory. Let us see him as often as possible and feel his presence. Own the character in a manner akin to the best of his films. Convince players that the jumble of pixels and polygons on their screens is James Bond, not some crude reproduction with little more artistic purpose than a picture of Daniel Craig on a fast food soft drink cup.

Speaking of Daniel Craig, you need to forget about enlisting him to supply a voice for your Bond. Or any of the other Hollywood stars that have filled his suit on the silver screen. It’s nice to have a recognizable name appear on the box and in ads, but you need someone who will give you more than just a few hours of time in a recording studio.

So start fresh. Make a publicity stunt of the hiring process. Encourage the gall of a mainstream media eager to report that (gasp!) a mere video game maker would have the audacity to try to create its very own Bond from scratch.

And then blow their minds.

The actor you recruit needs to commit to spending weeks embodying 007. He needs to be someone who not only commands a proper, Bond-like voice, but also exemplifies masculine grace, both in physical scenes and while casually strolling through hotels and casinos. He needs to be capable of delivering subtle facial expressions that hint at the sharp mind furiously working behind those calm blue pools. And, crucially, he needs to glow like a well tailored god in a bespoke suit.

These aren’t pie-in-the-sky expectations. Recent advancements in performance capture technology will help you in your task.

And with the graphical power of eighth-generation console hardware on the horizon, you ought not strive simply to create the most realistic video game Bond yet, but one of the most believable video game characters yet. A Bond that people will naturally add to watercooler discussions concerning the very best screen depictions of Ian Fleming’s superspy.

This and no less should be your aim.

Just keep in mind that a fantastic new Bond is just the starting point in making a 007 game people will remember.

You’ll also need to find writers capable of crafting a twisty story filled with villains and love interests that are Bond’s equal, and have them draft a script that captures Bond’s sophistication and humour without descending to the dangerously cheesy territory into which the films have occasionally slipped.

And since we’ve ruled out first-person shooters, there’s also the question of just what sort of game it ought to be. Stealth? Action adventure? A pseudo role-playing game heavy on dialogue and investigation? Perhaps some clever hybrid that manages to be whatever it needs to be at any moment (rather like a good, well-rounded Bond film)?

But I leave these problems in your capable hands. Such decisions are the sort you make for a living, after all.

My advice is simply this: A James Bond game needs to be about James Bond. The digital incarnation of the world’s most beloved secret agent must have the same charisma, strength, intelligence, and presence that we expect of any flesh and blood Bond in cinema.

He needs to simply drip cool.

Otherwise, you might as well give your hero a name as bland and forgettable as his personality. You’ll save a fortune on licensing fees.